Oprah power: Is it star clout gone mad?

Winfrey’s inspirational qualities, name recognition and “unbelievable communication skills”.

“This Oprah boomlet is a pretty good window into how bereft of leadership the Democratic party is at this point,” tweeted Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Mitch McConnell. “They’re just dying for someone who doesn’t sound like a leftist schmuck.”

Let’s game it out. Winfrey emerges from her Montecito, California, mansion, declares she’s in the game — and what happens then?

“Running for president is a whole different thing,” said Cornell Belcher, a Democratic strategist and former Obama pollster. “It’s an ugly, nasty, gruelling slog through all of these multiple states. It’s going to unglamorous places and showing up at fish fries. To successfully run, you need several things: money, infrastructure and a niche. That said, I think in this current environment . . . she would be the front-runner.”

The typical state’s primary turnout is incredibly low, said Joe Trippi, who was chairman of Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign. “Something like 7 per cent of the voting population made Barack Obama the nominee . . . that’s all you need.” It’s difficult for, say, three governors and a senator to scrap for those percentage points. It’s less difficult, in the social-media age, for someone with established name recognition. Belcher theorises that Oprah would probably be a top contender for the first Democratic contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. She would “definitely” win South Carolina. Which would lead to a sweep of Georgia, Mississippi.

Does the US want this? Are we comfortable with the woman who told us to “live your best life” ordering drone strikes that accidentally slaughter wedding parties? Do we want to hear about Oprah’s tax plan? Do we think Oprah has a tax plan? (How little taxes has she been paying?) The presidency degrades its holder in the eyes of the public. Having Oprah as a candidate would mean losing her as the beatific personification of the American Dream. Belcher said. “She’s never been in that space where people who earn a living by finding dirt on you are now finding dirt on her.”

Would conservatives and the Trump White House seize on the more suspicious chapters of her career, like her promotion of controversial TV Doctors Phil and Oz, or her endorsement of the 2006 self-help book The Secret, which convinced millions of people that they could be rich by just wishing hard enough for it? Twitter lit up with photos of Winfrey cozying up to disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Winfrey would be risking her stable and lucrative brand, burnished over 35 years in entertainment, journalism and philanthropy. “If you look at what happened to Trump’s brand, it’s been diminished,” said Rick Tyler, former spokesman for Ted Cruz and Newt Gingrich.

America just wants a good show, and perhaps there would be no greater bout than Oprah vs Trump in 2020. “I’m not sure the country needs, or is ready for, the battle of these cults,” said John Weaver, who was chief strategist to John Kasich. “The rules are out the window, God knows, but historically what we’ve seen is the next president is always far different than the president who precedes that person. Obviously Oprah is different temperamentally, thank God, than Trump, but she’d certainly come from the celebrity space.”

Then again, Democrats and never-Trump Republicans would probably enjoy watching the Trump meltdown her candidacy would bring. If she declared, Trump would immediately incur a psychological wound, if not a political one, said analyst Steve Schmidt. “Oprah is, in fact, a self-made billionaire; Trump pretends to be one. Oprah is an enormous TV star, by orders of magnitude bigger than anything Trump accomplished . . . She’s a powerful, smart, beloved AfricanAmerican woman, and Trump seems to have a reflective response towards African-Americans and women who he views as threats or are critical of him.”

Obama’s presidency would be, in some ways, a spiritual ancestor to any Oprah candidacy. “Obama was the first to break the mold in 2008,” Trippi said, noting how that longshot candidate managed to skirt attack ads and party expectations in order to win the nomination. “Trump in 2016 was just following that and over-running his party. Now you’re in 2020. It’s Oprah Winfrey. It’s Oprah Winfrey, or it’s Kanye West.”